25 August 2005
We are up in Canberra again because Tim has a 10 day workshop in here. It's hard to keep my diary updated while we are away. It's even harder to keep up with all my exercises when I'm not in Melbourne because I miss out on my usual physios and personal trainings. I was talking to Prema about this last time and she agreed that I have a rather busy weekly schedule in Melbourne - two physio sessions at Epworth, one private physio session at home, two to three sessions of personal trainings, one massage session, one hydro session. It's pretty much like a full time job for me. In fact, Tim has said this before - rehab is my full time job now. If I consider rehab as my full time job, I must have used up my four weeks annual leave for the year already. I remember when I was still at MECRS, before I had to go away for a week or so, I asked Fiona if she knows a good physio in Canberra so I would not miss out too much while I'm away. She used to tell me it's ok to have a break just like when you work, you get four weeks annual leave. I have been away a few times already since the start of this calendar year. I haven't counted the number of working days I have been away but if I add them all up, I probably have use up all my leave for the year already.
Going away has its advatages though. I remember it was because we were here in Canberra that Tim took me to a fitness equipment shop to hire an exercise bike for me. He thought it would be good for me if only I know how to work very hard (I think he and Gavin seem to have the same attitude). I remember the first time I was on the bike, i could only do 5 minutes and my leg got very tired. I had to gradually increase the time and the intensity. After one week's of exercise bike, Judy, my massage therapist, said it was the first time she felt my leg was improving because she was a bit concerned that after treating me for a while, there was not much change in the leg and the bike started to make some difference. I really don't know what the staff at MECRS were thinking. I remember asking Jane, my physio at MECRS when I was an in patient, about what exercises i should do. She told me the best exercises i can do is walking. I know many neuro specialists would probably the best exercise to do for performing certain task is actually practising that certain task, like Carr & Shepard would have said. However, in my case, back then, I could hardly walk and by practising walking I was merely reinforcing bad habits. My gluts was weak (still is) so I would stick out my butt when my weight is on the left. My hamstring was and still is weak so I could not bend my knee. In order to take a step with my left leg, I was circumducting my left leg to compensate for the weakness in the muscles. What I really needed was strength training to fix up the muscle weakness. I hate to think what I would be like had I stayed at MECRS and have not gone to Epworth. The whole time I was an in patient there, they never bothered to put me on an exercise bike or any fitness equipment. I know they would argue that I was not mobile enough to go on such equipments. At Epworth, I notice that they put patients on exercise bikes from a very early stage. Some patients could barely stand and they put them on those recumbent bikes. The contrast in attitude is just enormous.
I had phsio at Epworth on the Monday morning before we left for Canberra. I know Neil has always taken great interests in my progress and he and Rosemary are concerned that while my leg is improving, my arm has not been. Neil has asked me many times to ask Gavin if he knows an arm specialist. It's pretty hard to ask him that when he has been working on my arm over the last few sessions. He has been getting me to do some strengthening exercises with weights. On Monday, I was working on my triceps again. When I finished my usual ones, he asked Tracy to set me up to do some pushups. I told Gavin that when I first went to Epworth, I was hoping for a full recovery but now I think I'm going to get a 120% recovery since I couldn't do pushups before. He said for people who are motivated, he only needs to show them what to do. I took this as a positive comment since he never mentioned anything negative like don't expect 100% recovery and craps like that.
On Monday afternoon, I had personal training with Mary. I think Mary is getting a bit better these days. She is constantly modifying the exercises for me to make sure that they are not too easy for me and has started to push me a it harder than before.
Going away has its advatages though. I remember it was because we were here in Canberra that Tim took me to a fitness equipment shop to hire an exercise bike for me. He thought it would be good for me if only I know how to work very hard (I think he and Gavin seem to have the same attitude). I remember the first time I was on the bike, i could only do 5 minutes and my leg got very tired. I had to gradually increase the time and the intensity. After one week's of exercise bike, Judy, my massage therapist, said it was the first time she felt my leg was improving because she was a bit concerned that after treating me for a while, there was not much change in the leg and the bike started to make some difference. I really don't know what the staff at MECRS were thinking. I remember asking Jane, my physio at MECRS when I was an in patient, about what exercises i should do. She told me the best exercises i can do is walking. I know many neuro specialists would probably the best exercise to do for performing certain task is actually practising that certain task, like Carr & Shepard would have said. However, in my case, back then, I could hardly walk and by practising walking I was merely reinforcing bad habits. My gluts was weak (still is) so I would stick out my butt when my weight is on the left. My hamstring was and still is weak so I could not bend my knee. In order to take a step with my left leg, I was circumducting my left leg to compensate for the weakness in the muscles. What I really needed was strength training to fix up the muscle weakness. I hate to think what I would be like had I stayed at MECRS and have not gone to Epworth. The whole time I was an in patient there, they never bothered to put me on an exercise bike or any fitness equipment. I know they would argue that I was not mobile enough to go on such equipments. At Epworth, I notice that they put patients on exercise bikes from a very early stage. Some patients could barely stand and they put them on those recumbent bikes. The contrast in attitude is just enormous.
I had phsio at Epworth on the Monday morning before we left for Canberra. I know Neil has always taken great interests in my progress and he and Rosemary are concerned that while my leg is improving, my arm has not been. Neil has asked me many times to ask Gavin if he knows an arm specialist. It's pretty hard to ask him that when he has been working on my arm over the last few sessions. He has been getting me to do some strengthening exercises with weights. On Monday, I was working on my triceps again. When I finished my usual ones, he asked Tracy to set me up to do some pushups. I told Gavin that when I first went to Epworth, I was hoping for a full recovery but now I think I'm going to get a 120% recovery since I couldn't do pushups before. He said for people who are motivated, he only needs to show them what to do. I took this as a positive comment since he never mentioned anything negative like don't expect 100% recovery and craps like that.
On Monday afternoon, I had personal training with Mary. I think Mary is getting a bit better these days. She is constantly modifying the exercises for me to make sure that they are not too easy for me and has started to push me a it harder than before.
posted by Teresa Liu at 7:59 PM
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